[0:00] Now, as the Lord enables us, let us turn back to the prophecy of Isaiah and chapter 32. And with God's help, let us focus on the first two verses in particular as our text.
[0:21] Isaiah 32, at the beginning, Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, And princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, A shelter from the storm, Like streams of water in a dry place, Like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
[0:45] The prophet Isaiah ministered in a very difficult time in the life of the nation of Judah.
[1:01] From the very beginning of the prophecy, in chapter 1, He gives an account of the way people were living. Chapter 1 and verses 3 and 4 say, Then he goes on, verse 4, And as you read through the prophecy, When you come to Isaiah chapter 53, You find Isaiah opening that chapter with these famous words,
[2:06] Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? It's as if nobody really was paying attention to this godly man's ministry.
[2:22] And we see in chapters 28 to, Right through to 32, Many indications of the kind of people Who inhabited the land of Judah at the time.
[2:39] They had forsaken the Lord, Chapter 30 and verse 1. They had forsaken the Lord, Despite the number of marvelous things the Lord had done for them Down through the years, Ah, stubborn children, declares the Lord, Who carry out a plan but not mine, Who make an alliance but not of my spirit, And that they may add sin to sin, And they go down to Egypt without asking of my direction, And so on.
[3:12] A number of situations described in these chapters here That show so clearly How they had turned their back upon the Lord.
[3:25] And we find that in chapter 32, At the very beginning, The prophet is looking beyond The current king, Probably King Ahaz, Who was not a good king.
[3:42] He's looking towards another king, Who is going to come and reign in righteousness. And that's really what I want to talk about this evening in particular.
[3:56] This king that he's talking about. Well, there were some good kings Who followed King Ahaz In the land of Judah. But I think what the scripture here is saying is That the prophet is looking towards The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is the king of kings And the Lord of lords.
[4:19] Isaiah pointed to the coming Christ In chapter 9 of this prophecy. Unto us a child is born.
[4:31] Unto us a king is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And he goes on to say, His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, And the Prince of Peace.
[4:46] He has highlighted such a king In chapter 9. And now given The kind of kings That were ruling Over the people. And the kind of people That had given themselves to idolatry And various other sinful practices.
[5:04] Isaiah is led by the Spirit To point to the coming Messiah. The king of kings. Who will rule in righteousness. Who will rule in such a way As to glorify God.
[5:21] And in the verses before us, It says here that Princes will rule in justice. Each will be like a hiding place From the wind.
[5:34] A shelter from the storm And so on. I'd like to highlight These four points That come before us In these verses. What this king Is going to be like As a king Who is going to Bring peace And justice And blessing To the land And to the individuals Who turn to him.
[6:00] We see first of all That he is To be like a hiding place From the wind. Secondly, A shelter from the storm. Thirdly, Like streams of water In a dry place.
[6:12] And like the shade Of a great rock In a weary land. It's as if the king himself And his reign and rule Will encourage The princes under him To rule just like he is doing.
[6:30] But I want to focus Particularly On the king himself Who will reign in righteousness And princes who will rule in justice. The Lord Jesus Christ Is highlighted, I believe At the beginning of this chapter here As the king to whom the Isaiah Was looking.
[6:52] And under these four headings I'd like to say a few words To describe What his rule is going to be like. First of all, He's going to be As a hiding place Or like a hiding place From the wind.
[7:10] From the wind. I don't think The wind mentioned In this particular chapter Is anything to do with The weather Or the forecasting of the weather.
[7:28] I think it's talking about A wind that blows Among the people And that it is not A healthy wind. It is A wind of sin That blows Among these people.
[7:46] And the wind of sin Has carried them along In such a way That they are Submitting to it And are led By sinful worldly Practices.
[8:00] And that's what Leaves them Turning their back Upon the Lord. Where did that Wind begin to blow?
[8:12] From what direction Did it come? Well I mentioned This morning I was talking of Another text That This wind Began to blow In the Garden of Eden.
[8:27] When Satan Managed To prevail upon Adam and Eve With his reasonings From hell.
[8:40] It's a wind That blows From the darkest place And Reeks Havoc In the minds And hearts And lives Of individuals.
[8:53] And that's what Was happening In Judah At the time. The people Had been in Judah For many centuries. The Lord Had given them The privilege Of enjoying That land That he had Promised Abraham Such a long time Before.
[9:11] And they had Enjoyed that land But They mixed With the people Of the land And they learned Their ways And they learned How to worship Idols And they turned Their back Upon the Lord.
[9:27] It's a wind Of sin And that wind Of sin Is still Blowing in this World In our day. You see And hear Its effects In the way People think And the way People speak And the way People act They have no Space for God In their lives In their thinking.
[9:51] They don't do The things That the word Of God Asks of them. They don't believe That the scripture Is any rule To go by at all. They'll go by The current fashion. They'll go by The pervasive Arguments Of somebody They hold In high esteem.
[10:10] That wind Is still blowing. And we have To be so careful That we don't Lose our feet In this wind Of sin That blows Among the sons Of men still.
[10:30] But you see It says here That this king Jesus Christ The God Man That he is Like a hiding Place From the wind In Israel There were Cities of refuge Appointed by God For people Who had committed A murder Unintentionally And they were Given access To these cities Of refuge And they were Able to stay There Unmolested And Uncharged In peace And we see That Jesus Christ He is like A city of refuge For those Who know The power of sin In their own lives Those to whom Sin Is a burden
[11:31] Those to whom Sin Is something Like a cancer That would eat Away Every wholesome Part of one's Life And we see Here That Jesus Christ Is like A hiding Place From the wind Oh throughout This prophecy There are pointers To him And we see Him actually Speaking himself When he says Later on In this prophecy Look unto me All the ends Of the earth And be ye Saved For I am God And there is none Else Look unto me And Jesus Christ In the New Testament Marvelously saying Come unto me All you who labor And are heavy laden And I will give you rest It's as if he is opening His arms In such a marvelous Invitation way
[12:32] And he asks people To come To him Because he is the only Refuge from the storm He is the only one Who will give us security In this world of sin With our own sinful nature Needing to be Straightened out Our sins Needing to be forgiven And our iniquities Needing to be cleansed In chapter 1 In Isaiah The Lord having given The people An indication Of the way Sin had taken over Their lives The Lord then says Come now Let us reason together Though your sins Be as scarlet They shall be as white As snow Though they be red Like crimson They shall be as wool The Lord points us To himself As the sinner saviour Who is able to save To the uttermost
[13:32] All who come unto God By him You don't have to go far today To know And realise That there is a wind of sin Blowing there Actually Sin Has dealt with us all We are all sinners By nature And practice And whether your lifestyle Is Better than your neighbours Or not You are a sinner In need of grace And this saviour Is the only Hiding place From that wind of sin Come to him And you will know his rest That's the first thing He is As a hiding place From the wind And secondly He is a shelter From the storm
[14:34] A shelter from the storm Well I looked up What storm meant And one of the dictionaries Says that a storm Is A tempest Or A strong wind With pouring rain It's as if it's more than just A strong wind There is The complication Of a pouring Downpour of rain And I wonder What that means In this context When Jesus Is pointed to As the one Who is able To be a shelter From such a storm What kind of storm Is it?
[15:30] Well The wind of sin Is blowing you all the time But storms Come our way Probably By way of temptation Sin is there But the tempter Is at work And Satan Will try And manipulate Circumstances In your life Or round about you Or in the lives Of others Who deal with you Day by day Or who are there Or thereabouts And he will try And manipulate Circumstances In such a way As to precipitate A temptation For you The devil seeks To tempt you Into more Sin The Lord Jesus
[16:33] Christ knew What temptation Was He was Forty days And forty nights In the wilderness Being tempted By the devil And the devil Focused on Three areas The lust Of the flesh The lust Of the eye And the pride Of life The devil Will try These areas Repeatedly He did the same With Eve In the garden Of Eden When he pointed Her to the Three That the Lord Had said You must not Eat of it The devil Said well It's a lovely Three with Lovely fruit And it's Decirable To make one Wise The lust Of the flesh The lust Of the eye And the pride Of life And Jesus Knew the power Of the tempter And he Repeatedly Turned him Away Using the Scripture And that's a
[17:35] Pattern for us To seek to emulate That we also Ask the Lord To lead us And enable us To use the Word of God To turn away The temptation And the tempter Temptation To break God's Commandments From the First one All the way Through to the Tenth one They come Before your Mind Day after Day Where do You flee When these Things Assault you Like a Storm Of wind With Pelting Rain Seeking Access Into your Very soul And being Well There is Only one Place To shelter In such A situation Flee Unto Jesus Flee To him Who understands
[18:35] Your temptation He's been There Because the Bible says He was Tempted in All points Like as we Are Yet without Sin And he Promised the Apostle Paul My grace Is sufficient For you My strength Is made Perfect In weakness There is Also The storm Of Persecution The church In Scotland And in Various part Of the world Down through The years Have been Persecuted Because of Their Allegiance To the Faith In the First century There was Persecution Of the Christians Many Christians Were put To death In the Amphitheater In Rome And in Other parts Because of Their faith Where people Burnt at the Stake In England Because of Their faith
[19:36] People Burnt at the Stake In Scotland And slain Because of Their faith The devil Will come With that Kind Of storm That kind Of affliction Maybe we Haven't got Such a Blatant Attack Upon our Own personal Lives in This place But Nevertheless The devil Will try And Manipulate Situations That will In one Way or Another Cause you Difficulty As a Christian And where Are you Going to Go Well The man Of God Said Lord Help me And this Is what We are Pointed to Here That Jesus Christ is a Shelter from The storm It's as if He's holding His arms
[20:36] Out and He says Come under Me Come beside Me I will Shelter You And I Will Give You Grace For every Situation That is So Difficult The psalmist In psalm 143 Verse 9 Says Lord free me From my Foes I flee To thee To Cover me We need To be Covered We We Cannot Stand on Our Own We Need To have The Covering Of the King Of Kings And his Righteousness And his Spirit Enabling Otherwise We will Fall in The Temptation And we Will be Swept Along With the Wind Of Sin Thirdly We see That The
[21:38] Lord Jesus Christ Is As Streams Of Water In a Dry Place Streams Of Water In a Dry Place It's Like Small Channels Of Water That they Would Use For Irrigation In Middle Eastern Areas Dry Places Of The Desert Dry Ground Nothing To Sustain You In That Area What Is The Dryest Place In The World Well I Think The Dryest Place In The World Is The Unconverted Life The Unconverted Life Life And Soul That is The Dryest Place The Wind Of Sin Has So Denuded It From
[22:38] Any Good Thing That It Is Dry And Unproductive In In Spiritual Terms The Unconverted Soul Is a Spiritual Desert A Place Of Danger A Place Of Death But It Says Here That The Lord Jesus Christ Is As Streams Of Water In At The Right Place What An Amazing Answer To the Problem We Have As Unconverted People Sinful People Like Deserts Before God Bearing No Spiritual Fruit At All As We Are By Nature Nevertheless The Lord Jesus Christ Is Like A Stream Of Water Running
[23:38] Into The Dry Souls Of Men When The Apostle John Saw A Little Insight Into Heaven He Saw There A River Of Water Clear As Crystal Proceeding Out Of The Throne Of God And Of The Lamb The River Of God's Grace The River Of God's Blessing And That River Flows Through The Gospel Into Our Communities Into Our Services Into May May Be Your Home If The Word Of God Is Read And Embraced And Believed And Lived Out It's Like A River Of Water Because Jesus Christ Honors His Word And
[24:39] Where His Word Is Received And Believed And Trusted That Will Bring Its Own Fruit To Be Born In The Life Of Those Who Receive It Could I Ask If You Have Received This Marvelous Water This Blessing That Comes Through The Gospel The Gospel Of Jesus Christ Or Are You Still A Barren Land A Barren Desert Of An Individual Bearing No Fruit At All Unto Holiness Well We See Here That The Lord Jesus Christ Is Like A Living Stream And He Makes Himself Known In The Preaching Of God's Word In The Reading Of God's Word And The People Of God Here I Believe Will Follow Me When I Say Sometimes
[25:40] When They Come To The House Of God And Sometimes When They Read The Word Of God Privately At Home Feeling So Empty Just Like A Desert Nevertheless When They Read The Word Of God It's As If It's Refreshment From Heaven To Their Very Soul How Thankful We Are For Moments Like That How Thankful We Are For Moments Like That Sometimes You Go To Pray And The Place Of Prayer Is So Barren And So Hard So Far As You Feel In Your Own Soul But All of A Sudden It's As If The Heavens Open And The Shower Of Blessing Comes Jesus Jesus Makes Himself Known And You Say With The Apostle Peter Whom Having Not Seen We Love We Love
[26:40] Him It's As If Your Whole Heart And Soul Is Turned Around In Such A Way That You Rejoice With Joy Unspeakable And Full Of Glory And It Says Streams Of Water He's Talking About The Abundance Of The Supply Not Just That Rock But That Torrent Just Like Streams Of Water In The South As It Says In Psalm 126 When The Raining Season Came And These Dry Waddies These Dry Hoover Heads Would Be Overflowing With Water So It Is When The Gospel Is Blessed To Individuals Young And Old Wouldn't You Like That Moment Wouldn't You Like That Experience And
[27:48] Then Fourthly And Finally It Like The Shade Of A Great Rock In A Weary Land The Shade Of A Great Rock In A Weary Land The Christian Knows What It Is What To To Have To To To To Day To Day Christian Living This World Is Not Their Home They're Passing Through And They Have All Kinds Of Temptations And Difficulties And Trials And They Feel So So Often As If The Whole Journey Is Uphill And That The Wind Is Always Against Them And They Themselves Feel That Clearly They're Not Making That Much Headway At All And They Feel The Land
[28:48] Is Weary But When You Go Into A Hot Country And The Sun Is Beating Down A Great Rock Provides A Pleasant Relief For The Weariness You Feel And The Lord Jesus Christ Is The Rock Of Ages And He Is The One Upon Whom The Church Is Built And He Is The One Who Provides Protection And Relief To The Church In All Its Difficulties And Trials Our Lord Jesus Christ
[29:48] Is A Mighty Savior Able To Save To The Utter Most All Who Come Unto Him The Song Of Solomon Speaks In These Terms When The Church Of Christ Went And Sat Under The Shade Of Christ Described As The Apple Tree And She Said I Sat Under His Shadow With Great Delight And His Fruit Was Sweet To My Taste So It Is Here She Takes Great Delight In Availing Herself Of The Shadow Of This Great Rock In A Weary Land The Rock Is Immovable The Rock Is Always Available The Rock Is Her Rock She Has Fledged To It In
[30:49] Her Day Of Difficulty And Trial And The Lord Promises To Those Who Come To Him That He Will Never Leave Them And He Will Never Ever Forsake Them The Lord Jesus Christ Unto Us A Child Is Born Unto Us A Son Is Given The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder And His Name Shall Be Called Wonderful Counselor The Mighty God The Everlasting Father The Prince Of Peace And In These Verses Before Us He Is Shown To Be A Hiding Place From The Wind A Shelter From The Storm Streams Of Water In A Dry Place Like The Shade Of A Great Rock In A Weary Land Have
[31:51] You Yet Discovered Him To To Be To Be a Suitable Savior For You Have You Come To Realize That Only By Faith In Him Will You Have Forgiveness Of Sins Only By Faith In Him Will You Have Security As You Face Death And The Eternal World Have You Come To Realize The Preciousness Of Jesus Well This Man Is Pointing Us To Him This Evening The Whole Of The Scripture Is Pointing Us To Him And If We Look To Him We Will Most Certainly Be Saved May God Grant Us To Look To Him And To Know His Blessing In Our Lives Let Us Pray We Pray
[32:51] Oh Lord For Your Blessing To Rest Upon Us Although We Are Totally Unworthy Of The Least Of Your Mercy But We Praise You That In This World Where Sin Is Seen On Every Side Is Is So Influential In Our Society That You Would Have Mercy Upon Us That We Would Hear Your Own Voice Calling Us To You And Move Our Hearts We Pray That We May Respond In Faith The man Of God Of Old Said One Thing I Of The Lord Desired And Will Seek To Obtain That All Days Of My Life I May Within God's House Remain That I The Beauty Of The Lord Behold Me And Admire And That I In His Holy Place May Reverently Enquire May
[33:52] That Be Our Lifestyle Our Blessed Lifestyle Bless The Congregation We Pray We Thank You For Them And We Pray That You Continue To Pour Your Spirit Among Them And To Build Up Your Cause Here And Throughout Our Land Forgive Our Sin We Pray In Jesus Precious Name And For His Sake Amen Let us conclude our worship now by singing from Sing Psalms and Psalm 72 Psalm 72 and verses 8 to 14 from sea to sea he will hold sway and from the river to earth's end his enemies will lick the dust and desert tribes the knee will bend then
[34:59] Tarshish and the distant shores will send the tribute of their kings Sheba's and Seba's kings will come and bring to him their offerings all kings will humbly bow to him and nations worship him with fear he'll save the needy when they call the poor for whom no help is near he will take pity on the weak and save them from oppressive might he'll rescue them from violence their blood is precious in his sight these stanzas verses 8 to 14 of Psalm 72 from sing Psalms to God's praise from sea to sea he will hold sway from sea to sea he will hold sway and from the river to her sand his enemies will lift the dust and desert tribes and he will bend and heart and the in the distance shores will send the tribute of their kings
[36:41] Chebra's and sold Kommentare INS comun University will And bring to Him their offerings.
[36:58] All kings will humbly voucher Him.
[37:09] The nations worship Him with fear. He'll save the needy when they call.
[37:27] The poor for whom no help is near. He will take pity on the weak.
[37:46] But save them from oppressive might. He'll rescue them from high-low ends.
[38:06] Their blood is precious in His side. Amen.
[38:17] Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest upon and abide with you all, now and forevermore.
[38:28] Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.